BMW Vision Neue Klasse – Celebrating 25 Years of Innovation in Silicon Valley

To demonstrate its dedication to innovation and technological progress, the BMW Group Technology Office USA is commemorating its year in Silicon Valley with a special event that took a couple of days ago. This celebration not only showcased the company’s journey over the past 25 years but also offered a glimpse into the future, featuring the highly anticipated North American debut of the revolutionary BMW Vision Neue Klasse.

A Center of Technological Excellence – BMW`s Global Network

Established in 1998 as BMW Group’s first technology research and development office outside of Munich, the BMW Group Technology Office USA has played a role in shaping the brand’s landscape. Originally located in Palo Alto, it relocated to its site in Mountain View in 2011, strategically positioning itself within one of the world’s technology hubs. Today, it forms part of a network that includes offices in Munich, Seoul, Shanghai, Tel Aviv, and Tokyo – all working as part of BMW’s open innovation approach.

Visionary Leadership Panel – Bringing Humanity to Technology

The celebratory event features a panel discussion titled “Bringing Humanity to Technology” led by Frank Weber, Member of the Board of Management at BMW Group for Development. Joining him are esteemed individuals such as Futurist Poppy Crum, Naba Banerjee from Airbnb, and Micah Collins, Head at Meta for Work. 

This is what Frank Weber said about the special event: “Cutting-edge technological ideas with a lot of potential, developed in the world’s beating heart of high-tech, and perfected in our worldwide innovation network. This is how our BMW Tech Office in Mountain View works. I am very excited to see what visionary impulses for our ground-breaking innovations our team will keep on creating in the future.”

In this case, David Pogue, the technology expert, moderated the discussion that would help the audience get a better understanding of how this relationship between people and technology is fascinating.

Fasten your seatbelts, as here is the car that literally grabbed eyeballs, the BMW Vision Neue Klasse, which made its debut at the International Auto Show (IAA) in Munich. This revolutionary car belongs to the BMW car models of the next generation and is expected to hit the market by the year 2025. The Vision Neue Klasse has been unveiled and is stated to be built on three principles, namely electrification, digitalization, and circularity, and will redefine the idea of mobility.

At this event, participants could visit the workshop sessions, in which the focus was on the presentation of the activities of the BMW Group Technology Office USA.

The Practicals That Were Conducted Were on Different Issues

1. The AR/VR Journey and Evolution, which were depicted through the live demonstrations of the virtual reality product prototypes.
2. BMW Group’s IPA: A brief on the Group’s latest and greatest in the car voice assistant technology.
3. Innovation Mindset – a peek into who’s on the team in the office of explorers, creators, builders and some ideas that are still in the works.
4. Further on Electric Vehicle Batteries – Conversations with BMW i Ventures about the prospects of the future of the battery used in electric vehicles.

Interactive Driving Experiences – Blending Realities at Levis Stadium

Levis Stadium has also hosted a series of engaging driving experiences, which include: Levis Stadium has also been able to provide a number of interesting driving experiences, that have been as follows:

1. Another activity that the participants engaged in was the Mixed Reality Driving Experience, here participant got to virtually drive a BMW M4 on a track while the environment was both real and virtual at the same time.

2. The concept here is called Innovation Mindset – Intelligent Dynamic Scent Journey that can be described as a concept of a smart scent path that changes based on the passengers’ experience and offers them a new scent experience at every step.

3. Mixed Reality Meta Quest Driving Experience – a groundbreaking collaboration with Meta that brings virtual and mixed reality content into the vehicle even during dynamic movements—a first-of-its-kind demonstration.

4. Digital Key Demonstration – exploring BMW’s concept of utilizing smartphones as digital vehicle keys, which has now become an industry standard.

Looking Ahead – BMW’s Continuous Innovation

When the BMW Group Technology Office USA invited media, investors, and partners in, they showed the world what was yet to come. As one of the key offices in BMW, this office has a decade of collaboration and innovation and continues to spearhead BMW’s performance and growth as it transforms into a new era of automobiles.

Source: press.bmwgroup.com

BMW Group Technology Office USA Media Gallery